MOROCCO 2007: Americans in Morocco — Day 6: Day After [our non] Christmas. December 26, 2007
Quite a big shift tonight as we checked into our hotel in Midelt. We left our wonderfully sensitive riad in Fes (where every detail was considered) and are now in the Kasbah Asmaa in Midelt (a dusty little town in the mountains) where we have pink walls, curtains in another shade of pinkish rose, orange carpet, baby blue tiles, tangerine and rose plaid bedspreads, aqua painted closet doors. Even better, above the bed is a wooden “arch” nailed to the wall. But the wall has a column so the wooden arch has been cut into numerous pieces and tacked to the wall to shape around the column.. I hope you can get the sense of this, because it’s a real interior wonder. But, we have a teeny television in the room hanging off the pink wall and we are getting some news in English (first time since we left Madrid). But I digress from the more important description and tales of our travels.
Started out this morning by learning that the Fes hotel didn’t take credit cards and so had to venture to the ATM (amazing how easily we can all access cash!) to be able to pay for our wonderful four days in Fes. Then we got a taxi to the rental car office which turned out to be a bit more complicated than planned… as the taxi driver couldn’t find the rental office. Eventually we found the way and were a bit surprised to see the car – a huge 4 wheel drive SUV – clearly the biggest car in all of Morocco! We begged for a smaller car.. but supposedly this was the only car available. So, we’re embarrassedly.. truly Americans in Morocco.. although as we drove through the mountains we did begin to see some other SUV type vehicles.
Getting out of Fes proved uneventful, although we certainly didn’t take a straight route. Signage is a little complicated. Names of streets and information are only in Arabic, but major city names and direction signs are in French. Unfortunately those signs are not placed frequently enough nor early enough to prepare for turns. But all in all it’s been OK. We were given varying times for how long it would take to get from Fes to Midelt – ranging from 1.5 hours to 3 hours. Well, despite our powerful vehicle, it took us about 6 hours (including a stop for lunch, and short stops in two towns along the way).. But we did get here before dark.. sort of …
We got pulled over by the police (I should explain that their police stand on the roadside about every 20 miles or so.. not sure what they do).. but we were pulled over. Apparently Mike passed another slow moving car in a solid line zone.. This was a good moment to say we only speak English (although I did understand the cop’s explanation). In any case, the policeman didn’t really know what to do, so just told us not to do it again. Frankly, the lines on the roads would need a good painting for anyone to be able to know when they are solid and when striped. Arrest diverted by lack of communication! (I think Mike was sort of looking forward to getting a souvenir ticket to put with his collection of traffic tickets from East Germany, Moscow, and Mexico.)
We’re now pretty high in the mid-Atlas mountains and the landscape is both surreal and desertlike. Houses truly disappear into the landscape as they are low and built of the same color as the ground, so they sort of emerge and disappear, based on the quality of sunlight. I guess they use local soil in the concrete mixing and the older structures are probably rammed earth. The towns along the way are all very, very small.. just one little street with the basic shops.. and the requisite local petit taxi stand (In Azrou they were all green; in Midelt they are yellow.) In the distance we can see the snow-capped High Atlas mountains. I suppose these were all forests, but now it’s all scrub…
Everywhere you see contradictions. Men wearing long robes with the pointy hoods looking like they are right out of some medieval novel but they are on cell phones; teenagers in the back of the car dancing to hip-hop music while their parents are in the front seat dressed in traditional garb. But perhaps the most amazing is that I can use my Blackberry here in the middle of nowhere in the Atlas Mountains. I am truly surprised.
It’s pretty cold – low 40s, dipping below freezing tonight. We’re not quite prepared for the cold, so we are grateful that our room has heat. We’re off to dinner soon. More tomorrow.
Best — Fern
Christmas in MOROCCO: Americans in Morocco – Day 5. December 25, 2007
Greetings from Fes
If you want to be in a place over Christmas where there is no sense that Christmas exists.. this is the place to be. Not a Santa or jingle bells, or any other symbol in sight!
The sun came out today and we set out for the tanneries. An unbelievable sight (and stench). Apparently the skins (goat, camel, sheep, cow) are brought into the tanneries and after some kind of curing” process, the dying begins. There are about 50 vats that are knee-deep. The workers stand in these vats with the dyes (all natural sources) and step on the hides and pound them and swirl them around to get the dye infused in the hide. Each worker is in his own vat. The complete process includes the removal of hair and flesh, soaking, drying, and rinsing before dying… The dying vats have been in use for centuries. The steps include saline, lime, pigeon droppings, and then the natural dyes which include saffron, mint, poppies, etc. According to some studies we read, the tannery workers’ health is better than other workers and that there are theories that the foul-smelling liquids might contain some curative properties??? It’s quite a sight! (By the way they give you sprigs of mint as you enter the area, to cut the odor.)
The rest of the day we walked and walked and walked – from one end of the medina to the other and then winding our way from mosque to mosque and from medersa to medersa (schools) and from fondouk to fondouk (buildings where traders used to stay – with balconies and rug dealers and a misty sort of light flowing from cracks in the wooden balconies and from burning fires – sort of like a Delacroix painting. At one point, totally exhausted, we stopped in a little tea place about the size of a small closet. It looked like it was set up in the 60s when American hippies were roaming this area en masse. As we sipped the tea we heard a sort of Moroccon hip-hop music being played live.. and noticed that there was a little ante-room to the closet space and some young guys were playing music. We talked with them a bit and found out about the various instruments.. and learned they had cut a CD. Their group’s name is City Clan!.. Later in the day we stopped at a music shop and picked up the recording. True rock stars!
OK.. we did a bit of shopping too (including Mike getting a leather vest and new leather jacket).
The strangeness of Morocco (making it more different than most any place we’ve ever traveled) is the dominance of religion. Finding a female shop keeper is like finding a needle in a haystack. Women never walk alone. You never see little girls playing outside. Boys play soccer everywhere – amidst the detritus of shops, crowds, and the unbelievably narrow streets. And older boys are walking around or playing cards or working in the shops (or trying to sell us rugs).. But no girls. Similarly you see lots of men “hanging out” smoking, drinking coffee, talking in the squares.. but no women. Many men are wearing jeballas (with pointy hoods). About 70% of the women have their heads covered, but a much smaller number wear veils.
We’re off to dinner .. food has been fantastic.
Will be back in touch.
Fern
MOROCCO 2007: American’s in Morocco – Day 4. December 24, 2007
Hi All –
Following what appears to be a typical Moroccan breakfast (they love sweets!) of about 5 different kinds of breads and marmalades, hard boiled egg, and a “crepe-like”-pancake, we headed off to the old Jewish quarter (the Mellah) which is adjacent to the Fes medina in the southwest corner. While we were told the area was distinctively different architecturally, the differences were negligible… but perhaps that is due to the fact that the entire area encompassed by the old city is a cacophony of the tiniest shops imaginable – ranging from about 35 sq ft to about 120 sq ft – all totally packed floor to ceiling / side-to-side with “stuff”… Generally, like in most developing countries, the shops focus on a single item (like cloth or eyeglasses or shoes). Anyway, these shops occupy the first floor of every building, but are like little add-ons to the buildings since they are so shallow. Just imagine more than 900 streets with about 50 shops per street. Could call it a shopper’s paradise.
After meandering a while, we found our way to the Jewish cemetery – a strange plot about 6 square city blocks in size… with row upon row of white “mounds.” The “guard” at the entrance welcomed us royally and managed to give Mike the man to man hello of three kisses.. one on each cheek and then a second on the first cheek. Mike says he wreaked of alcohol (at about 10 a.m.). He provided the kippa and a big “shalom!” We also saw the synaguge which is “buried” deep in the mellah with housing immediately adjacent and so close that you are practically in someone’s apartment as you enter.
We then walked for hours throughout the medina – stopping to eat various things along the way, and consuming numerous cups of mint tea. The sounds and smells rival the visual array. Finding your way is a bit complicated and getting lost is lots of fun, until you’re exhausted and then really would like to find a simple way back – which is impossible. We’ve found a few of our own landmarks like the guy who seems to work 24/7 cutting out little pieces of leather to make souvenir babouches (backless shoes).. (He’s a sub-contractor).. His little shop consists of a table that’s about 18” x 20” … We know we’re almost at our riad when we find him. Actually the signage isn’t bad, once you understand the color coding and the logic, but it’s easy to go in circles.
By the way, the calls to prayer begin at 5:20 a.m. (which doesn’t seem to have any relationship to the rising of the sun).
Our riad seems to attract a broad range of foreigners and the more “artsy” types. Turns out the owners (Alla and his wife Katy) live part of the year in Oslo. He’s Iraqi, but fled with his family to Norway many years ago. He studied in Norway and is actually an architect. Met his wife in Norway, they traveled to Morocco .. loved it, decided to move here and wanted to renovate a building in the Medina, so it’s all been restored with a good deal of TLC. There are two other American couples staying her now (one from Ventura CA – he’s an architect; one from Raleigh NC and DC – they are academics- she teaches at the Corcoran; he’s an art historian at UNC); two German couples; Brits; and Norwegians (an architect who bought an old house here in the medina but has not yet begun his renovation).
Best – Fern
MOROCCO December 23, 2007: Americans in Morocco
Well in the pouring rain of Rabat, we made it out of the medina, dragging our bags (wheeling where possible) to the petit taxi (they are all blue) to the train station. Spent a few hours on the train with an interesting Saudi pilot who had gone to Temple University in Philly – we heard his view of American politics and the American / Saudi connections, as well as his analysis of 9-11. Also got hustled by one guy who was supposedly working for the Moroccan Travel Agency telling us he could get us a great guide for Fes (where we were headed).. and that the recommended guide had taken Hillary Clinton and Bono around town! He then proceeded to call the guide – Mohammud (naturally!) – and had Mike talk with him. Mike told Mohammed that his wife makes all the plans.. so then Mohammed wanted to talk with me. I said we weren’t the “guide-type” and suggested he give us his number and that we’d call him if we were interested. (The old ‘don’t call us, we’ll call you routine’ – seemed to work.)
The arrival in Fes was a bit hectic. We knew our “hotel-riad” was in the medina – the medieval section of the town and we had a contact number and information for when we arrived at the medina entrance (a particular gate, since there are many entry points). We were to call and they would send someone out to meet us. Well we used my mobile and couldn’t get through.. then managed to have a swarm of young guys offering to help us.. but we went to a phone store (teleboutique) for them to call the number and they couldn’t get through either. We were a bit concerned – after all we found the place on the Internet. But we decided to go it alone and trek into the medina and ask people as we went.. all the way “wheeling” our bags.
The medina is an unbelievable maze of more than 900 separate streets, mostly dead ends. It’s like walking through narrow caves. On normal days it’s buzzing with people and thousands of little shops, but because of the holiday (which goes on for 4 days and we are now finishing day 3) most shops were closed, making the experience surrealistic. The medina dates back to medieval days – the oldest in Morocco. After meandering for a bit, we started to ask people to direct us down these winding, narrow, sometimes paved alleys. I must say I was beginning to have my doubts. But alas, we were taken to #14 Sbba Lyouta and behind this very large, heavy wooden, carved door, we were escorted into a little paradise.
Medieval building with towering ceilings and open air atrium… Tile work everywhere and carvings in every corner….. Our room is a delightful suite — which is a terraced balcony with views of the entire medina…… After an early evening walk in the medina we had a traditional Moroccan meal …. Tomorrow we really explore this amazing city
Apologies for bad typing. I’m using an Arabic keyboard
Fern
MOROCCO 2007: Americans in Morocco — December 19, 20, and 21, 2007
Hi All-
Arrived in Madrid safe and sound — after a grueling few days at the office.. And despite all the discussions about not taking the computer — well here I am with computer in hand. Actually the Blackberry is working everywhere, but computer access is spotty. Anyway, spent about 18 hours in Madrid and took off for Casablanca, where the real journey begins.
We had arranged for a driver to pick us up at the Casablanca Airport, which worked very smoothly. The drive from Casablanca to Rabat, where we would spend the first night in Morocco was uneventful until the driver stopped the car (a rather old, well-worn Mercedes in fair condition) and we realized the last few blocks would be on foot. Our “hotel” – a riad – is in the center of the medina (the old section, dating back about a thousand years). We’re in a very cute little riad (formerly the home of some merchant, I suppose) that has about six rooms on two floors surrounding a courtyard, where meals are served, and there are three little rooms around the court on the first floor.
The riad is sweet, friendly, authentic, but a bit musty, especially since it’s been pouring since we got here. Southwest Europe and Northern Africa are under some rain spell that is unbelievable. Anyway, we walked throughout the medina yesterday afternoon and today up the many, many, winding, tiny alleys to reach the Kasbah. It’s pretty amazing, with about 5,000 families (all Muslim we have read) living in the Kasbah today.
Yesterday we noticed truckloads as well as individual carts being driven, walked, drawn by mule, etc… filled with sheep – sometimes a single one, sometimes many in a cart. And last night, from our room we could hear the Baaaas of sheep all night. Today, it turns out was the last day of the “fest” (or so we believe) and six million sheep were slaughtered – one per family! This morning we could see young boys (always boys) gathered around fires everywhere cooking/burning the heads of the sheep. Men were skinning the animals and young boys were cutting the horns (which by afternoon were strewn everywhere). So wherever you looked down every street and alley you saw small fires with the heads cooking on skewers.. horns.. and sheep skin, as well as trails of blood. It was quite a sight, and quite a smell. Everything was closed today and tonight for the holiday, but last night we walked through the night souk (market) where it was like Times Square with everyone out and everyone selling something. The cross streets of all the intersections in the medina were packed so tightly it was nearly impossible to move from one place to another. The best stalls were the ones selling shoes – one at a time, so you needed to work hard to find a mate in the pile.
Eating has been fabulous. Yesterday we broke down and ate at a little stall.. We thought we had ordered chicken, but I think it was chicken liver. In any case, very tasty on great bread. We had to have dinner both nights at the riad because of the holiday (We could only eat at hotels since all restaurants were closed for the holiday.) Fortunately our little riad has a great chef, so we’ve been treated quite well from the gastronomic side. Meals consist of opening Moroccan salads, followed by appetizers that could pass as full meals (pastilla or tagine) followed by the main course (another tagine or some other dish) followed by two desserts! Haven’t figured out why you get two full desserts per person, but they are generally fruits cooked with syrups and maybe some alcohol.. and something with almonds. Excellent, but I don’t even want to know the calorie count.
Before dinner, we decided that tomorrow’s trip to Fes should be by train rather than with a hired driver. The hotel didn’t know the train schedule. So, with the help of Fidel back in Oakland and the trusty Internet (which I can get on my Blackberry but not on the computer at the moment) we got the schedule and decided to go to the station to buy the tickets tonight to be prepared for morning (also to see how complicated the station would be with baggage, since we correctly doubted that there would be any lifts). We leave tomorrow morning by train to Fes. Hopefully I can connect there and this email will get out to you. It’s a three-hour train ride.
Mike says hi and that he questions six million sheep being sacrificed on his birthday!
Cheers – Happy Holidays. More to come.
Fern
BRAZIL 2006: Brazil Final Days (Part 2)
Ola-
Well — it’s definitely a country of the haves and have-nots.. and for the most part we are certainly circulating with the “haves”…
Yesterday morning we took the metro to see old city — el centro…which includes a mix of corporations and banks (although most have moved into sparkling new towers in the adjacent areas of the old downtown), and homeless, and small shops.. pretty much like most large Latin American cities.. Lots of street activities and hawking… It’s an amazingly dense city, yet it also sprawls.. to accommodate the 20 million people… So there we saw a bit of the “other Sao Paolo”
Then it was pretty much preparing for the wedding.. which started at about 7:30 last night and went until about 3 a.m. The ceremony at the church included about 20 minutes (sort of in the pre-ceremony time when people were arriving) a rather impressive orchestra and choral group (which it turns out was part of the Sao Paolo Opera, as the brides mother’s friend is the director or maybe holds some other important position with the Opera)… so it was a mix of Wagner, Mozart… with a little “Strangers in the Night” mixed in… very robust… then the ceremony began. It was much shorter than we thought, given that it was Catholic… but actually it wasn’t very religious… the bride and groom each get to have 12 people stand around them on the alter…mostly family and very very close friends… They stay there through the entire ceremony.. and then the bride goes to the grooms side and hugs each.. and vice versa…
Then it was off to the wedding reception which had tons of planning preceding it… The wedding planner’s staff which included at least 8 people (maybe more.. but those are the ones I saw)… They were all in constant communication from early morning through the end of the day by cell phone and ear pieces.. such that it looked a little like the CIA..(I heard that messages were conveyed saying who had arrived at the hotel.. who was where.. who needed to be picked up, etc.) The wedding party (including siblings and parents) spent the entire day at the salon.. where they got quite a treatment… There were about four photographers and videographers documenting throughout the day and through the wedding.. there were several bands… so that there was constant dancing music… Interspersed throughout the evening (which lasted until past 3 a.m. — constant dancing, which you’d be proud to know that Mike and I danced for much of it)… lots of salsa mixed with rock.. they love American rock and roll… were little “favors” that occurred on the dance floor… like passing our sunglasses during one song.. with everyone dancing with sunglasses.. or giving out hats.. and wigs… etc. At one point Kelsey (groom) took over the drumming.. since he is an incredible musician and runs a small band for children in San Francisco… the professional drummer seemed impressed.. especially since it was all Braziliam music at that moment.
As you know it was quite formal, with lots of beaded evening gowns and tuxedos. The American group was certainly the least “dressed” in the crowd of about 200. The dinner was fine and there was lots of drinking..starting with champagne and moving into caparinhas and hard liquor as well as wines… The dessert tables went on forever with choices of about 40 or more incredible selections (They love sweets.. )
We sort of rolled out at about 3 a.m…. and thus got a late start today.. but we went to the MASP (Museum of Art/ Sao Paolo) and then took a walk in the Jardins neighborhood, near the museum, which is an upscale section of town where shopping and eating rein supreme… Didn’t have much time to do either, since we had to go to one of the many post-wedding events.. a barbecue at the bride’s mother’s house… The focus of all of these homes is the backyard where the barbecue is located… this is serious stuff… It’s more like a set of ovens and spits built into the wall… They had a staff of four cooking the food..which was great… and a big salad bar.. followed by.. you guessed it, sweets!
The family is extremely warm and very very close.. It’s obvious that having Camilla move to San Francisco is a really big deal.. The extended family gathers every weekend and they talk daily… cousins, in-laws, etc. Everyone was working hard to converse with us in English and we were all working to converse in Portugeese.. Somewhere we all met linguistically and it seems as if we got the general gist of conversations. (Camilla’s parents and aunts and uncles do not speak English… Most of her cousins speak some English..)
Tomorrow we are headed to one of the large markets in the morning.. and then off to Camilla’s aunt’s for another event .. This we are told, will be in the most upscale neighborhood in Sao Paolo, where some people actually have helicopter pads attached to their houses…mmmmmmmmm…………. Anyway, it’s another feast with about 40 people .. and then we head directly to the airport to get back to the Bay Area —
Bon Nuit…
Fern
BRAZIL 2006: Brazil Final Days (Part 1). July 2006
Well last night’s dinner turned into more of an adventure than planned. We went to a place called Grimpa… a barbecue place (more like what we call a steak house) which was close by… (this is a very very carnivorous country) Turns out Grimpa is much fancier than we thought (but being in jeans didn’t seem to matter)… The restaurant was unbelievable.. but it took us a while to understand the “system” … several waiters came to explain it — all in Portuguese. Eventually we “got” it. First you go to an appetizer table with an amazing array of choices.. and then when you are ready you turn this little cardboard disk that you have at your place setting to “green”… This means that the entourage of waiters who are walking around the restaurant will stop at your table with any one of 17 different cuts of meats (and also chicken and salmon).. They have the meats on “spits” and they walk around with huge knives… They stop at your table and you decide what you want.. They keep coming until you turn your card to the red side.. then you can flip it back to green whenever you want them to start coming back… It was quite a feast… They also come by with unreal other treats like roasted pineapple with cinnamon.,… and potatoes, and veggies, etc. We also got a royal tour of the barbecue area… and the kitchen… (Since we were always asking for our meat to be very rare… when they showed us the freezers.. they said the meat there was very much like what we like to eat! Oh it turns out that Gimpa is opening its second restaurant… in Miami .. and now we are invited to the opening! …We told them we go to Florida about once a year.. We tried to walk the meal off a bit…. but I think that will take a marathon.
Today, was fairly calm… we left Curitiba with TAM — a local airline — given that our Varig flight was canceled… and arrived in Sao Paolo mid-afternoon… It’s a huge (more than 20 million population) and sprawling city and much like other large Latin American capitals… polluted and lots of traffic disasters.. It’s also very easy to see class differences.. with unbelievably new and expensive high-rises practically adjacent (not quite.. but certainly close by) to the favellas (squatter settlements)… There are some very very wealthy districts that are more removed from this.. Our hotel is in a section of town called “Brooklin” so we feel right at home.. and there is another neighborhood called Bella Vista (just like where we live in Oakland!)… We’ve sort of figured out a plan for our limited time here in Sao Paolo.. but the wedding will also be time consuming, but that is the reason we are really here in Brazil..
Tonight we met all the Americans who are here for the wedding and had a giant sushi feast in the Japanese section of the city called Liberdade… It turns out that Sao Paolo has the largest Japanese community anywhere outside of Japan.. There are about 21 of us from the US (including the groom’s whole family)… and we come from California, NY, New Mexico, and Washington.. Everyone had a lot of fun telling where they’ve been and where they are headed within Brazil. Everyone seems to have taken different routes during their stays here in Brazil.
On the way to the restaurant, in the taxi, you could see some very entrepreneurial homeless on the major streets… when the cars stopped (about 4 lanes in each direction) they’d jump out in front of the stopped cars and juggle… then as the light begins to change they ask for money from the drivers… then the cars whiz by… A new take on the window washing you get (or used to get) on the Bowery in NY.
Tomorrow we head out to see Sao Paolo — starting with the old section… then it’s off to the wedding.. The events are fairly nonstop… so we won’t have too much time to really see much… and given the scale of Sao Paolo we won’t see much at all… so I guess another trip to Brazil will have to be in the works at some time. .
That’s it.. . Bon Nuite….
Fern
BRAZIL July 2006: Gringo in Brazil – Day 4
Ola –
It’s about 6 p.m. here in Curitiba and I thought I’d try to send today’s travelogue early while I’ve got energy and remember what I did today.
As noted yesterday, Curitiba is a planners’ must-see city. Before going into this.. I should point out that at 2800 feet it’s a totally delightful climate, requiring a sweater late afternoon and evening. The air quality is quite good (unlike so many other South American cities I’ve visited); we’ve had nothing but clear blue skies.
Curitiba’s history is interesting in that it had a very large influx of Europeans in the late 18th and 19th centuries and their influence is strong. Today, the population includes about 50% whose origins are not South American. The intelligentsia had a big influence on the town — most notably one mayor — Jaime Lerner — trained as an architect, who became mayor in the 60s. The city is known for its efficient transportation system, which includes devoting lanes on major streets for the bus system. The buses stop at designated elevated “tubes.” They say that the system is used by 85% of the population. The buses are clean, modern, quiet and zip through town. There are several different kinds of buses marked by their color… We haven’t completely figured out the system, but we seem to get where we need to go.. or at least close… The city has also done an amazing job or creating, preserving, and caring for green areas. Someone said they have about 50 meters of green space per person… The mix of cultures has created some strange food availability and some of the most popular dishes are Ukrainian and eastern European.
The story as I understand it is that sometime in the 1960s, Curitiba’s population was about 430,000, (It’s now 1.6 million) and residents worried that the growth would change the character of the city… So they held some kind of competition and Jaime Lerner (a young Brazilian Jewish architect) won the competition and then later became mayor… (a post he kept for 30+ years). His proposal stressed strict controls on urban sprawl, reduced traffic in the downtown by creating a web of walking streets (you can actually walk all through the center without confronting cars), preservation of historic buildings, and a transit system that would be affordable for all residents.. These ideas became the master plan for Curitiba.
Today, we set out on foot walking to several major parks and through the walking street system. We encountered a demonstration against Bush and also a demonstration against Israel… everything was quite peaceful.. We also went to see the newest “citizen street”– Citizen streets (Rua de Cidadania) are mall-type structures that have been built in various parts of town – always near transit stops – that provide municipal services, shops, child care, and leisure activities so that local people don’t need to go to the center of town to deal with simple services, shopping, etc.
We visited this very large new one that was very close to the center of town.. It included a clinic, shops, art classes, and music classes, and a lot of services like getting different licenses along with small shops. We then decided to go to an outer neighborhood called Boqueirao (a working class neighborhood with lots of factories) to see their citizen street.. Boqueirao is at the end of the bus line — about 20 minutes from the center of town… Their citizen street was incredible, really well designed and in very good condition (even though it is much older than the one downtown).. It included a library with computers, all kinds of public services, a small police station, as well as hairdressers, food stores, book store, etc. The library was being used by a wide range of ages and chess games were going the whole time with people of all ages. The “street” was on multiple levels with access tangent to all of the major bus lines.. There also was a well used full-size, roofed-over soccer field attached to the “street.”
From there we took a taxi because I really wanted to see one of the Faroles de Saber — the towers of knowledge — … There are 47 of them scattered around town (another invention from the progressive 60s)… The taxi driver wasn’t sure where to find one in that neighborhood, but he was wonderful in stopping people who obviously lived in the neighborhood.. and actually we got to this delightful building that was adjacent to the local public school, as are all the Faroles. Each of the Faroles de Saber is different but always — resemble to some degree — a lighthouse with a beacon on top of the tower — a wonderful symbol about learning. They are tiny.. but always house a library with at least 5,000 books, and a computer room.. Some probably have other features.. This one was painted bright red and blue and was cylindrical… Very inviting… the library was on the first floor and circular stairs (like in a light house) took you to the computer room above. We saw children and adults using the equipment and everything was sparkling clean.
From there we trekked back to the center of town in quest of ice cream.. not as easy as we thought … Anyway, we stumbled on a tiny little juice place that uses coconut milk as a base for really great juices… so we opted for that.
We’ll head out for dinner in a few hours and then tomorrow it is off to Sao Paolo and wedding preparations.
Take care — Ciao
Fern
BRAZIL July 14 and 15, 2006: Gringo in Brazil – Completion of Days 1 and 2 and Now Curitiba
Ola –
So, here’s the completion of the days in Iguacu…
It is a truly spectacular site — about 270 independent and interconnected waterfalls of amazing height and width plunging into deep gorges surrounded by rain forest and natural growth. The Argentine side is more complex with grander views, but some of the largest falls are on the Brazil side so it’s difficult to say which is “best”… We stayed at the eco-lodge — Tropical de Catararas.. which was a lovely lodge beautifully sited (and as all the eco-tourism locations, overpriced)…
We had to get up at 3:30 a.m. in order to get to the airport in time for the flight to Curitiba this morning.. so we had dinner at the hotel. The Brazilians seem to have this thing for buffets… breakfast buffets, lunch buffets, dinner buffets, seafood buffets, etc. So we did the buffet thing! Not my favorite form of eating. And like most of Latin America it’s meat, meat, and more meat!..
We asked for two wake-up calls for this morning, since I was really fearful we’d miss the flight (6 a.m. takeoff).. Somehow our message to the front desk was a bit confused (We’ve found very little English spoken, even at the hotels… and Spanish is of only minimal help)… So they did call twice, but the two calls were within about three seconds of one another.
We literally woke up one of the taxi drivers sleeping in his taxi. We got to the airport in time, went on the non-existent line for Varig Airlines and got seats for the plane. Lots of people were taking the other airlines (As I think I mentioned Varig is in bankruptcy)… Went through customs and waited for the plane… Actually everyone was waiting for planes. Turns out there was fog in both Curitiba and Sao Paolo so both airports were closed. We all had to wait about 3 hours. .. as did passengers for all the other airlines. When we eventually did take off, our plane was very under-capacity. .. so it was a really comfortable flight. And Varig staff are quite nice.
By the way, security seems fairly loose.. no one cares that we are carrying laptops; security takes seconds; nobody really looks at identification once you’ve checked in… and a funny thing happened while we were waiting for the plane. The guy from the Varig Counter suddenly showed up in the waiting area and came over to tell me (in somewhat limited English) that the hotel was looking for me (the hotel we just left in Iguacu)… so he suggested I come back out to the check-in area to take the call. I tried to understand how easy or difficult it would be to get back inside (a total no-no in the US)… but he nodded which I took to mean “no problem)… So I left the “secure” area and took the call at the check in counter… Turns out in our exhausted stupor we never really checked out of the hotel.. which isn’t really a big deal since they had the credit card number.. but we had some restaurant and fax and computer charges, so they needed a signature.. The hotel guy was concerned it would come from his paycheck. But we arranged to send an email when we got to Curitiba and all was fine… Then I just walked right through security without showing anything.. and went back to waiting for the plane.
We arrived in Curitiba — a bit exhausted — but excited. Curitiba is a very special city in Latin America. It was led for many decades by progressive governments and they created some unbelievably innovative programs related to public transportation, sanitation, community well-being, parks, recycling, etc. First thing you notice is how clean the streets are. Apparently they pay homeless residents to clean the streets — providing income to those without jobs and at the same time goodwill for residents.
Then you see the public bus system. They have not spent inordinate amounts of money on light rail and/or subways. Instead they have dedicated bus and taxi lanes throughout the city and special mini-stations everywhere to board the buses.. The buses pull alongside these tubular steel and glass cylindrical shapes that house a protected platform (no graffiti) where a ticket-taker sells and collects tickets.. When the bus arrives (some are tandem) passengers are ready to board from the “station”.. The buses are immaculate, new, and appear to always be on time (since they don’t fight traffic)… Everyone seems to take the buses, creating a very extensive system of local and express services (color coded)… and in addition there is a third category of bus called “tourism” which doesn’t mean it’s for tourists.. it’s just the line that takes you to parks and museums and other points of interest. Tomorrow we’ll probably take one of these “tourist” buses to see the city’s well-known parks — several of which were former quarries.
We took one of the local buses — mostly to try it out, since we weren’t really sure where we were going next — but everyone tried to be helpful, and we actually went to the “centro” where our hotel is… but we hadn’t quite planned it well.. and got off at the other side of the centro, requiring a very long walk. The city has a network of “walking streets’ without cars, so it’s quite pleasant to walk in many directions — along tree-lined, and shop lined, and people-lined streets.
We also went to the Oscar Neimeier- designed museum which is the one that looks like a big fish-eye atop a big column. It’s kind of a testament of the failures of modernism… but it’s highly regarded and everyone asks if you’ve been there. (So now we can say “Sim” — yes in Portuguese)….
I confess that upon coming back to the hotel at about 5:30 — we totally zonked for about two hours and then headed out for dinner to what is considered the #1 restaurant in Curitiba — a French upscale joint called Boulevard. Food was quite wonderful and I’m sure the calories matched the bill. We’ve been having our share of caparinhas, which they make pretty strong, so we’re feeling quite fine! Following dinner we took a little stroll on the Rua de 24 Horas.. the street of 24 hours.. which as its name states, stays open 24 hours.. with little cafes, and free computer usage, and ATMs and hairdresser (in case you just have the need in the middle of the night to look extra good!)
Oh another thing we are trying to get to see are the “lighthouses of knowledge” — special little buildings located in communities that house libraries, computer clusters, information kiosks, and social services — They tend to be located close to schools …
It’s about 1 a.m. now, and I have a little work to do before calling it a day, so I’m going to sign off. All is well. Take care —
Ciao — Fern
Ola –
First, apologies if this comes out looking very dorky.. I’m typing at the business center of the hotel as the rooms do not have WiFi and there also aren’t any high speed lines in the hotel. The business center keyboard is Portuguese so there are a lot of symbols that keep showing up when I try to capitalize or do punctuation. I´m also charged by the minute so I’m not proofing this very well as I type.
Arrived at Sao Polo airport fairly easily and not too tired given that it was about 24 hours since we had gotten up and gone to SFO… The flights were about 17 hours with a 2 hour layover in Chicago… Then the fun began. Varig Airlines has gone bankrupt so nearly all its flights were cancelled. We needed to get from Sao Paolo to Iguacu… on Varig. The lines at Varig were wrapping around the airport since everyone on cancelled flights needed to talk with the counter people to get re-booked.. and we needed to check in. We were grateful to have had 2 hours.. but we barely made our plane… as it took nearly that long to get to a counter person… they had about 30 stations but only two people working… and it seemed as if they really didn’t know what to do. Fortunately we got everything on as carry-on so we didn’t have to deal with luggage.. not sure anything would have made it..
We have two more Varg flights — one tomorrow from Iguacu to Curitiba and one on Thursday from Curitiba to Sao Paolo… so not certain how all that will go.
After landing in Iguacu, we opted to take the hike to the falls on the Brazil side rather than sleeping.. a decision that could be questionable.. Anyway, it was quite spectacular, but nothing compared to the hike today on the Argentine side.. I´ll tell more tomorrow as my purchased time is running out on this computer.. but the trek to the Argentine side is a 45-minute drive and then once you are in the “park” you take a little train to the start of the hike (although on the way out we bypassed the train and walked) … That side is far more spectacular and the walks through the rainforest bring you fairly close to the falls.. You’re constantly getting sprayed… The falls are huge.. with drops of about 30 stories or so… and there are literally hundreds of them… We managed to extend our walk and get back too late for the taxi driver that we had already paid to wait for us.
Time up.. will finish tomorrow..
Fern's Travel Notes 